


Marius, what's wrong today?

by artsyspikedhair



Series: And Things Change For Better And For Worse [8]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Autism Spectrum, Canes, Child Abuse, F/M, Physical Abuse, Religious Discussion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-08
Updated: 2016-02-08
Packaged: 2018-05-19 04:23:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5953465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artsyspikedhair/pseuds/artsyspikedhair
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Marius fails his grandfather, discovers new religions, and generally has no idea what he is doing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Marius, what's wrong today?

Marius shows up to the Friends of the Abased meeting that day. He shouldn't have, because he had an obligation to go to his IEP meeting, and he knew what would happen if he didn't, but Marius had genuinely forgotten. He was a forgetful fellow. He had been too excited over the fact that he would have an excuse to talk to Courfeyrac, the kid in his math class with the interesting sweaters. Marius sometimes daydreamed about feeling those sweaters. Maybe now it would be real. 

When Marius walked into the courtyard, he didn't know what to expect. Certainly not as many people as there were. But Marius saw Eponine in a corner with a boy and decided to sit with her, at least until Courfeyrac showed up. 

"Oh, you're the famous Marius Pontmercy?!" the boy said, smirking. Marius felt he might be being made fun of, but the boy was ugly so Marius let it continue. Marius hoped it wasn't mean, to be thinking the boy was ugly. At least he didn't tell him. "Eponine over here has said a lot about you." Eponine glared at the boy. 

"I, uh, yes, I'm Mary-uh. Marius! I'm Marius. Sorry, I'm nervous. What has Eponine said about me?" 

"Only that you're a junior, and the most attractive person she's ever met!" the boy stuck out his hand. "I'm R, by the way." 

Eponine admonished him. "You're drunk is what you are!" She turned to Marius. "I'm sorry about him." 

"Oh, what, no, it's fine! I met you earlier today, right?" Marius intentionally decided to forget the whole attractiveness thing. Eponine was too young for him, and she seemed grateful he let it go. 

"Yeah." At that moment, Courfeyrac walked in with one of their friends, a tall blonde fellow. They walked over to the bench that had been left empty. 

"Alright, it appears we have a new face today. So, let's go around and introduce ourselves." the blonde said. 

Marius was certain he'd never remember everyone's name. He introduced himself "Marius, he/him/his, and Book of Mormon is the only musical I've ever seen." Marius only was allowed to see it because his grandfather did not know it made a mockery of the religion. Luc-Esprit was a serious Christian, and Marius was the grandson of him, and therefore not allowed to be blasphemous. 

The meeting itself was about different religions, which interested Marius immensely. Enjolras talked about Christianity, and how assuming Christians are the default hurt people of all religions and spread fear. Courfeyrac described the various Jewish holidays and talked a bit about the antisemitism . Joly described what it was like to be Muslim in this day and age, and described the differences between Islam and Christianity. Bahorel talked a bit about Wicca, although Marius wasn't paying much attention at that point. He was still thinking about Judaism. He had yet another reason to love Courfeyrac. Judaism was fascinating, especially the parts about how Jews study the Torah year round. 

After the talk about religions, people talked among themselves. Marius talked more to Eponine and Courfeyrac. Grantaire argued with Enjolras about how being atheist was not actually just a pessimists way of pissing on religion (that were Grantaire's rephrasing), and Marius also was introduced to the rest of the group. 

  


Everything was fine until Marius got home. There he was quietly asked to take his shirt off, which he did. Then his grandfather got loud. 

"Where were you?" This was punctuated by giving Marius a hit with the cane. "I give up time out of my day, time I gave up for _your _ __education." Another hit. Bruises show up remarkably quickly. "And then what do you do?" This one hits right above Marius' pants. "You don't show up! Do you want to be dumb?" A final hit. Marius is bent over at this point. His grandfather put away the cane, convinced Marius learned his lesson. "Oh Marius? Why do you insist on being so slow? You're great with your academics, if you could just try making some friends I'm sure this whole autism nonsense could be put behind us." Marius didn't answer.__

Unlike most assumptions made about physically abusive caretakers, Luc-Esprit truly believed he loved the child. He simply did to Marius what he had been taught was normal. If a child misbehaved, they must be punished. This was how love was shown in his home, all those years ago, and so this was how he loved Marius. By punishing the child for not showing up, Luc-Esprit hoped to instill punctuality in him. Marius knew his grandfather's beliefs, and knew he loved him. That was why he never reported anything, choosing instead to suffer in silence. His grandfather and his aunt were the only family he had left. 

The next day Marius chose the softest clothes he owned, although most clothes he owned were soft. He acted as though all was normal, for it was. He was still excited about Judaism, and before school started, Marius went to the library. He was going to teach himself Hebrew.

Marius ate lunch with Courfeyrac that day, and Courfeyrac was thrilled to have a new older friend. Courfeyrac and Marius got along well that first lunch, though it was a bit awkward for Marius that the lunch table consisted of multiple conversations at once. He didn't know enough about politics to talk with Enjolras or Combeferre though, and he was still slightly intimidated by Jehan, though he couldn't say why exactly. Courfeyrac noticed that Marius looked like he was in pain when he sat down, but Marius simply mumbled something about straining a muscle when they asked about it, so they decided to let the subject drop. 

Marius spent most mornings in the library from that day forward, leaving home earlier than normal to walk to school. He also started spending lunch with Courfeyrac when possible, and became closer friends with the younger teen. Marius had had friends before, but never felt close with them. Courfeyrac taught Marius about Judaism, although sometimes he wouldn't be there at lunch, sneaking off with Enjolras to do research. On what, Marius never bothered to ask. 

Everything would come to a head at the next Friends' of the Abased meeting.


End file.
